Now the Far-right Bible Thumpers want to control NAEP Civics Assessment Framework

  • April 2026

    The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), an independent, nonpartisan body established by Congress in 1988 to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as “The Nation’s Report Card”, published a notice seeking initial public comment for the NAEP Civics Assessment Framework update on February 13, 2026. The public comment window closed on March 27, 2026. NAGB’s primary mission is to ensure that NAEP remains a reliable, “gold standard” yardstick for measuring what U.S. students know and can do in core subjects like math, reading, and science. Public Comment Sought for NAEP Civics Assessment Framework 

    EdTrust, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting equity in education, posted its NAEP Civics Assessment Framework public comment on its website. EdTrust’s comments to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) as they consider an update to the NAEP Civics Assessment Framework.

    The section below from EdTrust’s public comment is particularly interesting……

    Guarding the Integrity of This Process

    “We raise these concerns about what the framework captures because the risks are not hypothetical. Organizations like the National Association of Scholars and the Civics Alliance have already submitted a comment urging NAGB to align the framework with specific ideological curricula, including the Hillsdale College K-12 History & Civics Curriculum and the Civics Alliance’s own model standards, and to strip participatory and “action civics” from the framework entirely. The suggestion is that civics should be learned but not practiced: students should study a version of history that, as the National Council for the Social Studies has noted, presents a selective and singular narrative “minimizing the experiences, contributions, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples, people of color, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, the working class, and countless others,” and that students should not engage in the real-world problem-solving that experts broadly agree is essential to civic learning and engagement. This version of history and civics education is central to a broader, coordinated effort across levels of government that includes the Department of Education’s emphasis on “patriotic education,” the America 250 Civics Education Coalition led by the America First Policy Institute, and state-level initiatives to restrict discussions of race and gender while teaching American history.”

    The Colorado Connection

    Two organization names stand out in EdTrust’s public comment: the National Association of Scholars and the Civics Alliance; both organizations are familiar in Colorado. In 2022, the Colorado State Board of Education discussed adopting the Civics Alliance American Birthright Social Studies Standards. The State Board of Education ultimately rejected the adoption of the American Birthright standards; however, the Woodland Park School Board, home to the Truth & Liberty Coalition, later adopted the American Birthright Social Studies Standards.

    What is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)?

    The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called “The Nation’s Report Card,” is the largest ongoing, nationally representative assessment of what American students know and can do in various subjects. National Center for Education Statistics. Unlike state-specific tests, NAEP provides a common measure (a “national yardstick”) that allows for direct comparisons of student achievement across different states, large urban districts, and diverse student groups over time. NAEP is not administered to every student every year. Instead, it is given to representative samples of students across the United States. Because the assessment schedule varies by subject and grade, there is no single “yearly” number, but typical large-scale administrations involve hundreds of thousands of students

    The National Association of Scholars/Civics Alliance and Defending Education have also published their NAEP Civics Assessment Framework public comments on their websites. The National Association of Scholars/Civics Alliance makes several suggestions; however, these suggestions stood out.

    • “Align with Alternate Standards: The NAEP-CAF now boasts of its consistency with the Center for Civic Education’s National Standards for Civics and Government. The NAGB should direct a new contractor to align the NAEP-CAF with better standards, such as The Hillsdale College K-12 History & Civics Curriculum, Foundations of Freedom: Louisiana High School Civics, and American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards.
    • “The NAGB should consider an alternate contracting consortium, consisting (for example) of Classic Learning Initiatives, the Core Knowledge Foundation, the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, and Hillsdale College.“
    Moms for Liberty shared Civics Alliance’s Executive Director, David Randall

    Defending Education, which describes itself as a “non-political” and “grassroots” organization, is widely characterized by media outlets, researchers, and political analysts as a conservative or right-wing advocacy group also made several suggestions in its public comment; however, this suggestion stood out.

    What Happened with the Louisiana Social Studies Standards Rewrite?

    In 2022, Louisiana completed a revision of its Social Studies Standards. EdWeek reported that, “In an echo of what happened last year in South Dakota, unnamed state officials in Louisiana have rewritten an educator-drafted set of K-12 history expectations after fielding politicized claims that it embodied a negative view of America.”

    The EdWeek article also states that Louisiana’s State Superintendent Cade Brumley said, “Many of the changes were made in direct response to the public feedback on the original draft, which was generally negative. But it is not clear how representative that feedback was of parents’ opinions at large: Education Week found that many of those comments were cut and pasted from interest-group commentary—notably a document put out by the far-right National Association of Scholars.” Louisiana’s History Standards Got a Closed-Door Rewrite. What’s In and What’s Out

    It is also worth noting that Louisiana has an educational “partnership” with PragerU, a conservative media non-profit. PragerU developed a 96-page guide specifically for Louisiana educators that aligns its videos with the state’s K-12 standards in history, civics, and financial literacy. The Louisiana PragerU materials are also intended to support Louisiana’s “Freedom Framework” for social studies, which emphasizes “American exceptionalism”. The resources are optional for teachers and schools, not a mandatory part of the state-adopted curriculum, and there are no state contracts or public funds involved in the partnership; the materials are provided to the state at no cost.

    The National Assessment Governing Board will vote in May

    The National Assessment Governing Board website states, “If the Governing Board decides that an update is needed, the charge to launch the revision process for the NAEP Civics Framework is anticipated to be adopted at the May 2026 quarterly Board meeting.” It will be important to watch the decisions made by the National Assessment Governing Board should they move ahead with revising the framework. Secretary McMahon has recently appointed new members to the National Assessment Governing Board.

    We can only hope that the National Assessment Governing Board will remain independent and nonpartisan should they decide to revise the NAEP Civics Assessment Framework.

    Articles

Discover more from Colorado Public Education Watch

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.